“It was just in the heat of the moment,” Kevin Magnussen retracts his statement after accusing Lewis Hamilton for the crash
Follow Us
Kevin Magnussen's collision with Lewis Hamiton at the Spanish GP
On the first lap of yesterday’s Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton touched tires at turn 4 (the site of the infamous Rosberg-Hamilton crash in 2016) which for the time being, completely derailed their respective races. Both drivers got a puncture, and Magnussen went into the gravel. This dropped them down to 20th place for Magnussen, and 19th for Hamilton. While Hamilton was eventually able to climb his way to 5th over the course of the race, Magnussen had no such fortune, finishing P17.
In the immediate aftermath of the collision, Magnussen fumed over the radio, saying: “Lewis knew what he was doing. He just ramped me.” insinuating that Hamilton touched tires deliberately, in order to keep the place, which does not make much sense in hindsight, as they both got punctures. The stewards also dismissed it as a racing incident.
When asked about what he had meant from the comments, Magnussen didn’t give much credence to his earlier statements, dismissing them as being in the heat of the moment.
“Nothing. It was just in the heat of the moment.”
Magnussen also said that sometimes you just say things for the sake of it, even if they might not mean anything at all, and said that he would have to look at the moment again to draw any conclusions.
“You say whatever you say, and then you go and look at it. And it’s often a different story. You’re always pissed off in the heat of the moment, but I’ll go and watch it again, see what happens and then move on.”
Haas’ weekend looked promising, yet ended in disappointment
Both Haas drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher featured among the top 10 of the grid, after strong performances during qualifying, and showed good pace. In particular, this was Mick Schumacher’s first-ever Q3 appearance. But he could not convert into his first F1 points.
While Magnussen’s race was derailed by the crash, Schumacher was unable to keep hold of his position, even though he was running as high as 7th place at one point of the race. This led to eventually both of them finishing outside of the points, with Schumacher in 14th place and 17th place. His chase towards the first point(s) of his career goes on.
Despite their misfortunes, Haas’ have, of course, bought no upgrades, and are holding off for the foreseeable future, with team principal Guenther Steiner saying before the Spanish Grand Prix that they’ll be holding off for at least ‘four or five races’ before introducing the upgrades, and are cautiously optimistic. In hindsight, Haas’ pace during qualifying was promising as the vast majority of the field had in fact introduced upgrades to the fore.
Haas will look to have a better weekend at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix and get back on track for the season, while Mick Schumacher will continue his hunt for his first points at a circuit that his father, Michael Schumacher had won 5 times at during his career. Kevin Magnussen will also look for more points, as there have been none to be found in his last two races.
Kevin Magnussen sits 10th in the championship, and teammate Mick Schumacher is one of 3 drivers to not score a point this season, along with Aston Martin reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg, and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi.
Also Read: Mick Schumacher thanks Haas for his first Q3 finish: “Great effort from everyone in the team”
Stay Updated!
FS Desk
(8023 Articles Published)